Watchdog accuses Bush of illegally conveying his intention to run

A campaign watchdog is pouncing on Jeb Bush’s statement on Tuesday morning that he was “all in,” months before he formally announced his presidential campaign in June, saying it appears Bush may have violated multiple federal laws by privately communicating his intention to run.

During an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Bush recalled a private meeting with Mitt Romney in January 2015. Romney, at the time, was considering a third bid for the presidency, and Bush worried that another run by the former Republican nominee could sink his own prospects. Characterizing the meeting on Tuesday, Bush said he assured Romney he was “all in” to win the presidency.

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“Look, Mitt Romney’s a great guy, and I do consider him a friend, and in that private conversation, we talked about the campaign ’cause he was thinking about running and I went out to see him,” Bush said. “I wanted him to know that I was all in and had a plan to win this, and I still do.”

Federal campaign-finance rules require candidates exploring or conducting presidential bids to register and submit to a strict set of contribution limits and disclosure requirements. They also can no longer coordinate with powerhouse super PACs that have the ability to raise unlimited funds to support candidates. Further, the Federal Election Commission ruled in November — with the support of its Republican appointees — that a prospective candidate who privately decides to run for office is required to register.

“If Bush had made up his mind to run for president by the time he spoke with Romney in January 2015, then Bush violated multiple federal laws by failing to register as a candidate until mid-June,” said Paul Ryan, deputy executive director of the Campaign Legal Center. “These knowing and willful violations of federal law should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

Candidates rarely face official repercussions for apparent violations of sometimes-murky laws about when they must officially register. Still, Ryan said the Campaign Legal Center would amend two previouslyfiled complaints to include Bush’s latest remarks. The complaints, lodged with the FEC early last year, suggest Bush’s intent to run for office had been obvious long before he officially declared.

He even once slipped and referred to himself as a candidate for president, only to quickly walk it back.

But Bush always maintained that he was still making up his mind. Though the former Florida governor spent the first half of 2015 barnstorming the country raising tens of millions of dollars for his PAC, Right to Rise, he always denied that he’d decided whether to run until he announced his candidacy in mid-June.

Bush campaign spokesman Tim Miller said on Tuesday that the phrase "all in" is common Bush parlance to convey seriousness. "He was referring to being 'all in' on the process — as in taking it seriously, giving his all," Miller said. "No different than what he was saying publicly at the time."

He said the campaign wouldn't divulge details of Bush's private conversation with Romney, "but it is correct that he had the same posture on running privately as publicly.”

Miller pointed to Bush's official hashtag #allinforjeb as an example of Bush's use of the favored phrase.

It appears that the first time that hashtag was used on Twitter was June 15, the day Bush formally announced for president.

And there are plenty of examples of Bush carefully toeing the line in the weeks before his official kickoff. On May 31, Bush said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he still hadn’t decided whether to run.

“I would like to run. But I haven't made the decision,” he told host Bob Schieffer. Schieffer asked whether his overt moves toward a bid had violated “the spirit of the law” or the law itself.

“No, of course not. I would never do that,” Bush replied. “And I'm nearing the end of this journey of traveling and listening to people, garnering, trying to get a sense of whether my candidacy would be viable or not. We're going to complete — completely adhere to the law.”